Also, both positive charges and negative charges always exist in the living body P. When oxidation progresses in cells, the living body P ends up in a positively charged state with more positive charge, and a charge balance is disrupted. When the charge balance is resumed in the living body P, on the other hand, then oxidative stress and various oxidative stress disorders are relieved.

The electric potential therapy device 1 of this embodiment resumes the charge balance in the living body P by repeatedly bringing the living body P into the negatively charged state and the non-charged state alternately without bringing the living body P into the positively charged state as described above.

Second Embodiment

Next, an electric potential therapy device according to a second embodiment of the invention will be described. With reference to FIG. 6, an electric potential therapy device 101 of this embodiment is substantially the same as the above-described electric potential therapy device 1, but includes a negative voltage applying means (negative voltage applying unit) 102 instead of the negative voltage applying means 2, and the negative voltage applying means 102 includes an input-voltage varying apparatus 120 in addition to the negative voltage generator 21, the application electrode 22, and the output resistor 23 described above. Also, the voltage setting dial (61) is dispensed with.

The input-voltage varying apparatus 120 is electrically connected to the AC adapter 7, varies a voltage of the DC power supplied from the AC adapter 7, and outputs the same to the negative voltage generator 21. The processor 4 outputs the above-described application signal and the removing signal to the negative voltage generator 21 and the switch 32, respectively, and also inputs a voltage control signal to the input-voltage varying apparatus 120. The input-voltage varying apparatus 120 varies the value of the voltage to be output to the negative voltage generator 21 in accordance with the voltage control signal from the processor 4.

It should be noted that the processor 4 controls the input-voltage varying apparatus 120 via the voltage control signal such that the value of the negative voltage output from the input-voltage varying apparatus 120 to the negative voltage generator 21 varies either at random or in a predetermined pattern.

As a result, the value of negative voltage generated by the negative voltage generator 21 and output to the living body P varies within a predetermined range. Although this range may be arbitrarily set, the range is preferably −600 V to −3600V.

Thus, the value of the electric potential applied to the living body P in the first period t1 of each treatment cycle Ts varies as shown in FIG. 7.

In comparison with the first embodiment where a constant voltage is applied to the living body P, varying the value of the voltage to be applied to the living body P either at random or in a predetermined pattern as described above inhibits development of tolerance against activating stimulus to tissues and the like of the living body P, thereby enhancing the effects of the activating stimulation of the living body P and leading to shortening of the therapy time.

It should be noted that the processor 4 generates the voltage control signal by executing a predetermined control program stored in the memory 5, for example.

First Modification

Next, an electric potential therapy device according to a first modification of the first and second embodiments will be described. Although the processor 4 outputs the application signal in the entire therapy time T0 in the above embodiments, as shown in FIG. 8, the processor 4 in this modification outputs the application signal in the first period t1 of each treatment cycle Ts but not in the second period t2. In this modification also, the living body P is negatively charged in the first period t1 and brought into the non-charged state in the second period t2 because electrostatic charges are removed from the living body P in the same manner as described above.

Second Modification

Next, an electric potential therapy device according to a second modification of the first and second embodiments will be described. Although the electrostatic charge removing means 3 consumes electrostatic charges removed from the living body P with the charge consuming means 31 in the above embodiments, in this modification, as shown in FIG. 9, the electrostatic charge removing means 3 does not include the charge consuming means 31, and the switch 32 is connected to the earth ground. Thus, when the switch 32 is turned ON, then the removing electrode 33 is electrically connected to the earth ground, and electrostatic charges removed from the living body P are discharged to the earth ground through the switch 32.

Third Modification

Next, a third modification of the first and second embodiments will be described. Although the electric potential therapy device 1 includes one application electrode 22 and one removing electrode 33 in the above embodiments, the electric potential therapy device of this modification includes two or more (four, for example) application electrodes 22. In this case, these application electrodes 22 are put on the living body P such that two of them electrically contact either arm and that the other two either ankles, for example. In a different modification, an electric potential therapy device includes two or more removing electrodes 33.

First Example

An experiment was conducted to explore the effects of the above-described electric potential therapy device 1. This experiment was performed on db/db mice, mouse models of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

(1) General Description of Experiment

10 male mice (db/db mice) of 7 weeks old were purchased, preliminarily raised for three days, and used for testing. These mice were divided at random into a therapy group of five and a control group of five, and an electric potential therapy was conducted on only those in the therapy group using the electric potential therapy device 1.

A therapy period was 28 days (4 weeks). The electric potential therapy was performed on the db/db mice in the therapy group twice daily in the morning and afternoon with an eight-hour interval. The value of application voltage was −1000 V, and the therapy time duration was 30 minutes.

As shown in FIG. 10, the electric potential therapy was performed by placing mice M in the therapy group on an electrically conductive metal plate PL connected with the application electrode 22 and the removing electrode 33. That is, the mice M contacted the metal plate PL with hairless pads Ma and thus electrically contacted the application electrode 22 and the removing electrode 33 via the metal plate PL. The electric potential therapy was performed on the mice M by repeatedly and alternately bringing the metal plate PL into a “negatively charged (−)” state and a “non-charged (±0 charge)” state.